


joining the rebellion ('cause i know it's my chance)

by QueenWithABeeThrone



Series: but i will gladly join the fight (the force4ham au no one asked for) [1]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, First Meetings, Force Ghosts, Force4Ham, Gen, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-11
Updated: 2016-03-11
Packaged: 2018-05-26 02:14:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6219634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenWithABeeThrone/pseuds/QueenWithABeeThrone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Then the lid of the fighter cracks open, and a Stormtrooper's helmet is thrown out with force, narrowly missing John's head, before someone pokes their head up from the TIE fighter.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>"Don't fucking shoot," says the man. "You guys are literally my only hope."</i>
</p>
<p>or: John Laurens, Resistance pilot, meets Alexander Hamilton, former Stormtrooper, after Alex crashes a TIE fighter in the Resistance's backyard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	joining the rebellion ('cause i know it's my chance)

**Author's Note:**

> pls imagine Alex in pigtails for p much the entirety of this piece.

A month or so after the new recruit--Finn, his name's _Finn_ , he's Poe's new _something_ , apparently--wakes up and two after a scavenger sets off in search of _Luke kriffing Skywalker_ , a TIE fighter crashlands in the training yard of the new Resistance base.

John stumbles out into the yard with his blaster in hand, blinks at the TIE fighter, then at his fellow Resistance pilots, all of them clad in sleepwear, aiming blasters and staves and various weapons at the craft. He wishes Blue Squadron were here, but unfortunately for him and the rest of the corps, Poe and his squadron's off rescuing the survivors of the Hosnian system's destruction, and retrieving senators from their hiding places as well.

He aims his own blaster at the TIE fighter, tries to look intimidating despite his--less than menacing pajamas.

Then the lid of the fighter cracks open, and a Stormtrooper's helmet is thrown out with force, narrowly missing John's head, before someone pokes their head up from the TIE fighter.

And it's--actually not a bad-looking head. Dark hair pulled into two pigtails at the sides of his head, dark eyes, _scruff_. John can hear his dead father spinning in space, somewhere in the remnants of the Hosnian system.

"Don't fucking shoot," says the man. "You guys are literally my only hope."

"Stand down," says John, gesturing to the others and lowering his own blaster, though he doesn't holster it quite yet. He keeps an eye on the man, who hauls himself out of the TIE fighter and lands onto the ground with surprising grace before he holds his hands up. He's dressed--somewhat haphazardly, to say the least, clad in a mishmash of clothes that John's pretty sure were not all intended for human bodies. He's pretty sure what the guy's wearing as sleeves are supposed to be used for lekku, for example. "Who are you?"

"AX--" the guy starts, before he stops. "Alex," he corrects. "My name's Alex, I defected from the First Order like two months ago and I've been trying to find the Resistance ever since. This is the Resistance, right? Because from where I'm standing," he glances around at everyone surrounding him, currently clad in pajamas (or, as in some cases, half-naked), "I'm not entirely sure I got the right planet."

"Right planet, wrong time," says John. "I'm John Laurens. Now why'd you just land a TIE fighter on a _Resistance base_?"

"How'd you even steal a TIE fighter out from the First Order, is what I wanna know," says Herc Mulligan, sounding incredibly impressed. " _Mothers_. I think it's still working."

"It's a long story," says Alex, obviously preening at the praise, "but first. Is FN-2187 around here somewhere?"

"You mean Finn?" says John. "He's off with Blue Squadron right now. He left about a day or so ago."

"He means Finn's off on his honeymoon with Poe Dameron fighting bad guys and saving senators," Herc stage-whispers.

Alex looks at them both and says, "Wait--his name's _Finn_?" in such a tone of awe that John decides that the next time he sees one of the First Order's higher-ups (which is probably _never_ at this rate), he's most likely going to strangle them. "She was right," he says.

"Who?" asks John.

"Eliza," says Alex. "She and her sisters helped me get here--I've got a message from them to deliver to General Organa. _And_ , by the way, I have valuable information on the First Order's movements as well as combat training. I'd be useful to the Resistance, is all I'm saying here."

"The Schuyler sisters?" Herc asks. "Kriff, General Organa's been waiting on them for months now. Why can't they come here themselves?"

"Yeah," says Alex, "but they've been lying low since Starkiller Base. And it's not like the Resistance has been making it easy, moving from planet to planet. Do you _know_ how long TIE fighters are supposed to be flying? Not as long as _two months_ , thanks a lot." He gives a huff, as if somehow the Resistance has mortally offended him by moving from place to place in order to keep themselves from being completely annihilated and thus inconveniencing him, and John can't help the pang of annoyance.

Still. Alex is right, he's a valuable source of information, even putting aside the part where he's bearing a message from the Schuyler sisters for General Organa. So John holsters his blaster and says, "I'll take you to General Organa. She should still be up."

\--

One of the first things the First Order made sure to do to its stormtroopers was to drill the image of a loathsome, hateful Resistance into their impressionable little heads--which meant a lot of, let's say, _exaggeration_. Out-and-out lying. _Bantha shit,_ if Alex is ever asked, because FN-- _Finn_ ran to the Resistance, and from what he hears in snatches, they welcomed him with open arms. They can't be that bad, and even if they were, well, the First Order blew up a whole _system_. That's not something Alex is going to stand for.

Still. Years of indoctrination are hard to shake.

"Relax," says John Laurens, Resistance pilot, his arm on Alex's, tugging him along so Alex doesn't get lost in the twisting corridors of the Resistance base. "Seriously, you look like you're marching off to your own execution."

"Hah," says Alex, his nervousness creeping into his tone.

"You don't actually think--"

"Of course not," says Alex. "Just--look, it's hard to _shake_ , all right?"

"That you shook it at all is pretty impressive," says John, stopping in front of a door with a surprisingly non-ostentatious sign hanging on it, reading "GENERAL LEIA ORGANA". "Well, here we are. I'll let you do the honors."

Alex breathes out, raises a hand to knock on the door.

"Well, come in, then," comes an irritated woman's voice. "The door's open."

Alex glances at John, then pushes the door open and--blinks.

General Leia Organa's quarters look--a lot less ostentatious than he expected. There's no vibroblade displayed proudly on the mantle, there's no chain framed up above the fireplace. There isn't even a mantle or a fireplace to speak of, the place looks sparse and impersonal, with boxes on every surface and at every corner.

The general herself sits at a desk, looking much less larger than life than Alex expected her to be, from all the propaganda. She looks--smaller, in fact, her greying hair tied in a careful and intricate bun, and for a second Alex can hardly believe that this small woman, hunched over a holopad, is one of the very people who was instrumental in taking down the Empire and reestablishing the Republic.

Then she looks up, steel in her eyes and in her spine as she stands, and Alex stands straighter.

Yeah, he can believe it.

John, beside him, snaps off a smart salute, and says, "General Organa, sir."

"At ease, Commander Laurens," says General Organa ( _the_ Leia Organa). "And who's this?"

_AX--_ "Alex," he says, his name easy on his tongue. "I was a Stormtrooper, I escaped about--two months back and I've been looking for the Resistance since. I'd like to join. I have information on the First Order and their bases, and I've got combat training and--"

"Enough," General Organa cuts in. "At ease, Alex. How did you find us?"

"I checked the systems you were previously on," says Alex. "Then I ran out of fuel and ran into the Schuyler sisters."

"The Schuyler sisters--" General Organa starts, before she breathes out, a sigh of obvious relief. Her shoulders relax, just slightly. "I was starting to get worried there."

"Angelica said not to be worried, they have their ways," says Alex. "Speaking of Angelica--she asked me to bring you something." He digs into his new coat's pockets, fishes out the datachip that Angelica had pressed into his hands and asked to keep safe before he left, and presses it into General Organa's waiting hands. "She and her sisters are still lying low, though."

"Can't blame 'em," says John, and Alex starts before he forces himself to relax. _This isn't the First Order,_ he tells himself. "What with the First Order on the warpath and all, they've probably got their hands full already just trying to dodge them."

"Then let's hope they keep dodging them," says General Organa, as a blue-and-white astromech droid rolls up to bump against her and beeps--something, Alex is not sure. But it gets a sudden snort of laughter out of her, and she turns to look down at the little droid and says, "Oh, shush, you," before she kneels down and inserts the datachip into a compartment in the droid's domed head.

The hologram the droid projects bathes the room in a blue glow, and Eliza stands in front of them, clearly fiddling with something Alex can't see. His breath catches in his throat at the sight of her, dark hair tied into a messy bun. "I think I got it," she says. "Ange, you wanna do the honors?"

Angelica steps into view, her lekku hanging down over her shoulders. "Of course," she says, then nods to whatever's recording the message. "General Organa, if you receive this message, then that means Alex got to you safe and sound and got you this message." Even through a recording, Alex can see the amused twinkle in her eye as she adds, "Try not to break him too hard, Eliza likes him."

"He's very nice!" Eliza laughs, and Alex ducks his head, cheeks heating. "But anyway--"

"I'm getting to that," says Angelica and the smile disappears as she straightens up, hands going behind her back. "My sisters and I have information about the First Order's operations in the Lothal sector--more specifically, on Garel. We think that, with the destruction of Starkiller Base and the loss of a good chunk of their troops along with it, they've decided to harvest construction materials on Garel. For what, we don't know, exactly, but they're doing it fast and irregardless of any adverse effects they might have. As is typical of them, I suppose. And--"

"And," Peggy cuts in, tossing a green head-tail over one shoulder as she walks into view, "they're also replenishing their troops."

A weight drops into Alex's stomach.

Eliza's lips thin, her eyes narrow, and she tucks a stray strand of dark hair behind her ear. "That too," she says.

"We've been hitting them where we can, but we're three people and we can't stop every single kidnapping," says Angelica. "Help us, General Organa. You're our only hope."

The message cuts out, then, and in the silence that ensues, John says, very quiet, "Those _fucking_ \--"

"My thoughts exactly," says General Organa, grimly. "Rouse Captain Kun."

"With all due respect, sir," says John, "I can fly--"

"General Organa, I'd like to be able to join this mission," says Alex, cutting in, "I know the Schuyler sisters--"

"Commander Laurens," says General Organa, calmly, folding her arms and fixing her steely gaze on John, "I am well aware that you are, physically, fit to fly, but after last week's events, I would advise you to take Lieutenant Mulligan's advice and _take a damn break_. In fact, I'm ordering you to."

"Lieutenant Mulligan--" John starts, heatedly.

"--is looking out for his commanding officer's well-being," says General Organa, coolly staring him down despite being a head or so shorter than John is. "Listen to him. If I hear that you've gone and taken your X-Wing to go anyway _against orders_ , I will track you down and haul your ass back here for a court-martial, do you understand?"

"Yes," John says. "Sir."

"Does that mean I can go on the mission?" Alex asks.

"Absolutely not," says General Organa. "I know the Schuyler sisters just as well as, if not better than, you do, Alex. So does Captain Kun. While I don't doubt that you have the best of intentions and that you are sincere about joining the Resistance, I am not about to send someone who broke with the First Order only very recently to face them again."

Alex bristles and says, forgetting to be afraid, "I have had _extensive_ combat training--"

"That they'll know to counter," says General Organa. "And I don't imagine the First Order would want to let you go if you were to fall back into their hands. So I'm keeping you _out_ of their hands and in ours."

"Finn's fighting them," says Alex, somewhat petulantly.

"Finn is on a _rescue_ detail," says General Organa, and though he's got six inches on her she still manages to glare him down. "Retrieving senators before the First Order can get to them, which, _ideally_ , involves very few skirmishes with the First Order and plenty of mind-numbing boredom."

"I didn't sign up for mind-numbing boredom, though," says John. "Sir."

"I'm not signing up to sit around on my _ass_ all day--" Alex hotly begins.

"Trust me, I'd give a lot for just mind-numbing boredom and sitting around on my ass all day," says General Organa, her tone weary, and for the first time Alex wonders--how long has she been at war? "Welcome to the Resistance, Alex. Don't worry, with how our luck's been going lately, perhaps you'll get the chance to get off your ass sooner than you think."

\--

By unanimous decision, John finds himself sharing his room with Alex. It's not that he _minds_ Alex being there, it's just--

"Last time I came by, you didn't have a roommate."

\--yeah.

John cracks an eye open, sits up and rubs at his eyes. Washington's here again, the soft blue glow illuminating John's slightly cramped quarters. "Yeah, well, nobody else had the room for him," says John. "You haven't swung by in a while, I was starting to think you had shit to do."

"The funny thing about being a ghost is that you have all the time in the world and not very many things to do with that time," says Washington, dryly. "And it passes quicker than you might think."

"So you lost track of time," John says, swinging his legs over the edge of his bed and taking in Washington's appearance. He's wearing Jedi robes this time, a lightsaber hilt hanging at his belt, and he looks every inch the general he was during the Clone Wars. "I'm fine, you know. Before you ask."

"Really?" says Washington.

" _Really_ ," stresses John.

"Ugh," says Alex, from above, and John gets his explanation ready before Alex says, "John, why the hell have you got something playing down there?"

"I'm not playing anything," says John, caught off-guard, at the same time Washington tilts his head up to look at Alex, puts his hands on his hips, and says, "I'm not a _hologram_ , young man."

"Wait, what--" Alex starts, before he falls silent. A moment or so later, John finds his view of Washington blocked by a dark fall of hair and a wide-eyed look. "John, is that--"

"He's a Force ghost," says John. "I'm--Force-sensitive, I guess you could call it that? Just enough that I can see dead Jedi, anyway." And Alex, apparently, is as well. He waves a hand at Washington, who nods. "Alex, this is General Washington."

"George Washington," says Washington. "I'm afraid ranks don't mean much when you're dead."

"I'm--Alex," says Alex as he climbs down the ladder of their bunk bed, pausing only briefly before his name slips out. "You're a _Jedi_?"

"I _was_ a Jedi," says Washington.

"Well, I _was_ a Stormtrooper," says Alex.

"He stole a TIE fighter on the way out," says John. "I think it's in the hangar now being cooed over."

Washington raises an eyebrow. "Impressive work, young man," he says, and Alex seems to straighten up at the praise, as if he's not quite so used to hearing his work being praised as _impressive_. Or if he's not quite so used to hearing praise from a glowing blue man. "You should head back to sleep. Both of you. I have a feeling it's going to be a rather big day tomorrow."

\--

("Oh, wow," breathes Anakin Skywalker, staring at a slightly dented TIE fighter. "That thing's still _intact_?"

"Apparently so," says Obi-wan Kenobi, fixing a glare on his former apprentice.

"So do you think I could--"

" _No._ It hasn't survived two months just for you to take it for a joyride and then crash it into something, _Anakin_."

"Five minutes! It'll be back here like it never left."

Obi-wan coughs, and says, "You said that about the speeder during the Chandrila mission."

Anakin throws his hands up and says, "How was I supposed to know the battle droids had upgraded their blasters?!")


End file.
